Beatitudes of Jesus

An Invitation into the Sacred Space of De(re)construction

By: Larry Warner

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Jesus’ Beatitudes were first spoken nearly two millennia ago, in these simple statements—when you really look at them with fresh eyes and grasp their depth of meaning—you will find the same pertinence, relevance, and challenge that his first-century audience felt. In them, you will find an invitation into the sacred (holy, set-apart) space of de(re)construction.

I hope that, for you, this is not just another book on something Jesus said. Instead, I hope that you might feel seen by Jesus in his Beatitudes, as I have—that you might know that your questioning, confusion, and rethinking are not rooted in a lack of faith or complete misunderstanding of the Gospel (as some would have you believe). I want you to know that you are not the only one questioning, the only one wrestling, the only one asking, “Is that really what Jesus would say or do?” I want you to see the internal rumblings of dissatisfaction, frustration, and longing for more, different, or better are in fact God-given.

This is the heart of this book. I wrote it for you, those feeling disenfranchised and dissatisfied by the Church, those questioning and wrestling with long-held teachings and stances of Western Evangelicalism. There is still something in you that longs to hope in Christ, that has a persisting and unexplainable love for and desire to follow the person and teaching of Jesus.

What Makes This Book Different?

1. The reader is invited to interact with the material throughout. The ongoing invitation is to pause and ponder what you’ve read while it is still fresh.
2. The Beatitudes are reexamined, expanded and knitted together a bit differently.
3. The beatitudes are presented as descriptive realities, what is true according to Jesus, rather than prescriptive aspirations. This perspective greatly impacts how we view ourselves and live.
4. The now and communal nature of the kingdom of God fuels one’s imagination as to what is possible is emphasized.
5. The twin realities of righteousness — the continual becoming in Christ paired with doing justice — are brought to light.
6. One’s traditional images of God are challenged, explored and expanded with special attention given to male/female images and God as Love.
7. The ongoing work of deconstruction and reconstruction as a necessary component to living-Jesus is encouraged and supported.
8. Our new heart is viewed as the beginning point of the life available to us in Jesus.
9. The concluding section of the book focuses on being Salt and Light as the logical outflow of the beatitudes. Something too often omitted from books on the Beatitudes.

Open and gentle approach

The approach to the Beatitudes, and where many of us find ourselves in de(re)construction, was open and gentle. L. Warner offered great reflections throughout the book, places to stop and consider our faith history, definitions, thoughts, and feelings. I appreciated the time to process what I read along the way. He took into consideration that everyone was approaching these ideas differently and instead of espousing an opinion, he asked questions, often questions he has asked himself. Overall this book led me to have deeper conversations with the Trinity.
Discovered I’m not a fan of AI narrating (mispronunciations), prefer human inflection and accent.

Pushing woke ideas

This book is pushing woke ideas and just imagine things to be how you want them